


How to Make Friends & Kick Alien Ass

by heisenfox



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 17:16:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14898713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heisenfox/pseuds/heisenfox
Summary: During the Battle of New York, Tony's son Peter is at the Tower, and he manages to meet and befriend a certain trickster while the city is destroyed around them.





	How to Make Friends & Kick Alien Ass

**Author's Note:**

> Another giveaway prize fic! [@misshollandaya](http://twitter.com/misshollandaya) requested something where Peter is Tony's bio-son, is friends with Loki, and one of them saves the other. For reasons I can't fully articulate, my brain went _immediately_ to this scenario.

“He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered…” Tony freezes, terror flooding his system; Steve assumes it’s just the same realization he’s feeling, and continues to assume so when Tony’s next words come out in one. “ _Sonofabitch_.” 

Nobody questions when Tony wastes no time getting the suit back up to the bare minimum requirements for flight capabilities; it’s his Tower Loki has likely taken residence at, and they all know how protective Tony can be over his things — he once fought Rhodey, his best friend, over whether or not he should be required to hand over the blueprints to the Iron Man armor to the US military. For someone to take over his actual home, they assumed, was far, far worse. None of them — not even Natasha, whose entire job for several months was to infiltrate Tony’s life — knew the real reason for his fevered actions.

He had a son, Peter. Peter didn’t always live with Tony; most of the time, he lived with his maternal aunt and uncle, May and Ben, because Tony was so bicoastal with SI work, even after he’d stopped — not to mention the whole Iron Man thing. But today? Today, Peter was supposed to be arriving at the Tower. And with everything going on, Tony didn’t even think about telling May to postpone, which meant it was likely that Happy had already picked the kid up, and dropped him off at home. Hence, the panicking.

Tony gets to the Tower as soon as the battle-weary suit will allow him, and finds that Loki has already taken residence in the lounge. After mouthing off to the god, and Loki revealing that there are bigger fish to fry than just him, Tony makes the impossible decision that he has to abandon the Tower and hope for the best. Rattling off instructions to JARVIS to mobilize the bots and keep Peter safe — Peter, who is apparently happily in his room and unaware of the danger lurking upstairs — Tony allows Loki to fling him out of the window like a rag doll so that his newest suit can make its way to his rescue. What he doesn’t count on, and doesn’t notice, is Peter staring out of the window in a panic as he watches his dad fall.

Peter rushes upstairs, and stops short when he sees Loki pacing the lounge. “Who are you?” he asks, voice trembling.

Loki turns around slowly, as if he can’t tell whether he imagined the voice or not. “I am Loki, of Asgard. Who are you?”

Peter hesitates. His dad and Aunt May and Uncle Ben all told him not to talk to strangers, but, he reasons, he knows Loki’s name now. That surely makes him _not_ a stranger. “‘m Peter Stark.” His voice grows stronger, and his hands from meek little fists at his sides. “Did you throw my dad out of the window?” he demands to know.

Loki appears to hesitate once more. “Yes.”

“Why?”

Loki shrugs. “He was in my way. He survived. One of his dreadfully hideous suits caught him. I imagine he’s fighting the Chitauri now.”

Peter pauses to think for a moment before deciding he’s probably safer acting comfortable around Loki than trying to fight him; he unclenches his fists and makes his way to the man’s side. “Fighting the what?”

They stand at the window and talk as the world seems to come apart all around them, and Peter tries not to think about all the people out there getting hurt, or worse. He focuses on the fact that he can still see his dad’s suit whizzing about, and the fact that Loki almost sounds like he’s as afraid as Peter is. At one point, Loki disappears to fight his brother — who turns out to be Thor, and Peter tries very hard to not be awestruck that the guy from the myths he used to read for fun is _real_ — and Peter is left to pace and worry. Loki eventually comes back down, just in time for a Chitauri to try and attack Peter, who was sitting with his legs dangling out of the hole in the window his dad had gotten thrown through.

Peter looks back at Loki, and is surprised to see that the reason he’s okay is because the god had used his sceptre to blast the alien away. “You saved me,” he says, voice soft, and betraying his shock. “Why?”

Loki pauses, and then shrugs. “Because I did not come here to attack children. Truthfully, I did not come here to attack anyone.”

Peter wipes glass from the space next to him and stares at Loki until the man huffs a faux sigh of annoyance. Once Loki sits, Peter speaks. “Why did you come, then?”

To Peter’s surprise, Loki tells him everything. About his feud with his brother, about dying, coming back to life, the Mad Titan Thanos. About what really lies beyond the stars. Peter listens attentively, and tries very hard to not let his face show the realization he has just come to — Loki is afraid.

When the battle finally ends, and the Avengers come to arrest Loki, Peter is about to interject. Before he can, he hears Loki’s voice in his head, as if being whispered directly into his ear. “ _Don’t try to stop them, Young Peter. This is for the best. Thor is taking me home, and if my mother has her way, I will simply sit locked away in the palace forever. There are worse fates to be had._ ” Peter doesn’t say anything, and when his dad comes and hugs him, he just hugs his dad back. With a flash of light, Loki and Thor are gone, and Peter wonders if he’ll see either of them again.

* * *

Years go by, and Peter acquires his own set of powers. Tony finds out, and builds the kid his own suit, designed to enhance his powers and keep him safe. Peter moves in with his dad full-time, partly because of the whole bit about superheroes having a hard time keeping loved ones safe, and partly because Tony wants to nurture Peter’s knack for science by having him attend Midtown High instead of the public school that was nearer to Aunt May’s. In all, Peter’s life is going remarkably well, and he’s mostly forgotten about the time he befriended a war criminal.

That is, of course, until Bruce Banner comes crashing back down to New York to warn the Avengers about the impending invasion of Earth. Peter is with Tony and his soon-to-be-stepmother Pepper, when Bruce arrives, and as the story unfolds, Peter feels his spidey-senses start to tingle. He turns to look at Bruce, really look at him, and simply raises an eyebrow. As if on cue, he hears a familiar voice in his head. “ _Very well done, Young Peter. Fear not; Dr. Banner is safe, he is simply elsewhere. I thought it prudent I come bearing this warning in a form which would be immediately accepted._ ”

Peter fights a grin, and, unsure if Loki can read his thoughts as equally as he can speak into them, thinks back, “ _Your secret is safe with me. It’s good to see you again._ ”

* * *

The battle is long and tiring, and everyone is confused when the real Bruce arrives — before Peter has a chance to try and speak up for Loki, however, Bruce and Thor both do so, assuring everyone of the trickster’s new allegiances. Tony still looks doubtful, so Peter finally says something.

“Dad,” he says, placing a hand on Tony’s arm before he has a chance to lift his gauntlet and aim it at Loki. “Dad, they’re right. Loki is…well, he’s a lot of things, but in this and in the whole New York thing, he’s innocent. Or at least mostly innocent.”

“Kid, what are you talking about?”

Peter looks toward Loki, who nods at him — despite the looks of confusion on Bruce and Thor’s faces — and takes a deep breath. “Well, see, he’s kind of been my friend since the Battle of New York…and he’s saved my life twice now….”

**Author's Note:**

> usual song and dance -- unbeta'd, mistakes my own
> 
> title is a crappy play on the title "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People"


End file.
